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As a product discovered over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the simple jar of Vaseline may not seem like an clear candidate for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a popular subject on TikTok has placed it at the forefront of an advertising revolution, seeing big businesses allocating substantial funds to content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

Originally produced in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers using on their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Today, a spree of content from users have chronicled its broad application in “everyday tips”.

Hailed as a solution for polishing footwear or prolonging the scent of perfume, as well as a fix for noisy doorways. It has even been deployed to prevent the annoyance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Noticing its viral resurgence, executives at the multinational boosted the tips by asking their own scientists to test them and providing creators with the outcome data.

Assertions that it diminished the burn from hot food on the lips were confirmed. Similarly supported were ideas it could extend fragrance and revive leather bags. Suggestions it could brighten smiles or lengthen eyelashes were disproven.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Billboards and TV ads would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. However, this online trend has persuaded leaders to ramp up funding for content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, recently appointed, has suggested it is aiming to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on digital creator content.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

The company's social media lead, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of connecting with customers. She said engaging on social media “without killing the party” was essential.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, since the era of community gossip and talking about what they used.

“We are witnessing a departure from a broadcast model, where we would just broadcast out … Today, it's numerous dialogues, many communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these groups seem specialized, however, they are large.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by consumers, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Influencers are vital for this. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The strategy reflects seismic changes taking place in media consumption, with the youth demographic devoting greater hours to digital networks than television, magazines or radio.

The transition is visible in falling revenues for traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, ad revenues for leading TV channels have dropped substantially in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Creator Economy Boom

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as brands effectively act as media producers, linking up with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention out of certain traditional media outlets and their time is increasingly on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Numerous corporations inform us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. That’s a consistent trend.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also permits simpler message refinement to gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Promotional expenditure on digital creator partnerships is increasing four times faster than the broader media sector. In the US, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is projected to reach multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to shape the national conversation.

The executive noted: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still major broadcast spectacles. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”